Law of the Beak

A bill of sale is a document that records a transaction between two parties. But let’s explore a different kind of bill, the type found on a bird.

Birds differ in shape, size, color and song. But there is always one constant between the various species. Birds lay eggs, the eggs hatch and the chicks get fed.

Hatchlings don’t get to choose what they eat. I’ve never seen a bird turn up its beak over a slimy worm the way a young child might do over a piece of broccoli. Instinctively, the hatchlings know they need vast amounts of nourishment in order to survive. They will take anything they can get.

As humans, we may be unlike the birds when it comes to food. But we are no less dependent upon the bill of sale. This transaction takes place when a parent opens its beak to feed us the traditions of the past – sometimes correct, and sometimes completely off base.

We are hungry birds waiting to be fed. We often don’t know what we want until someone shows us. It’s not until the new phone, or the new movie, or the new car, or the new fashion comes out that we believe we need it. So, we sit in the nest and squawk. More, more, more! Another beak comes along and vomits out a new diet, a new drug , a new scientific study, a new religion, a new political party, a new gadget or new learned behavior…we settle down in the nest, feeling full, but only for a short moment. We soon yearn for the next delivery.

Every commercial and every ad, includes a bird beak waiting to feed you…waiting to make that bill of sale. There are plenty of beaks and there is no shortage of food.

Perhaps every child has said “I wish I could fly.” But fly we will never do, so long as we are squawking for more!

Published by coreynasfell

I am a lucky husband and grateful father. I love to observe the world around me and "mine for mental gold." This blog is an expression of ideas designed to add value to your life.
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